Comments are welcome, and comment moderation has been turned off. To comment on a post, click on the word "Comments" below the post. You will be asked to type some letters you see. The purpose of this is to ensure you are a human being and not a spam machine.

Of course, you may be a human being and a spam machine. We'll be the judge of that.

Friday, July 06, 2012

Tee-Hee!

A Republican state representative in Louisiana now says she was confused when she enthusiastically supported Gov. Bobby Jindal’s voucher bill to fund private schools. From the Livingston Parish News (free registration required):

"WATSON — Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Watson, says she had no
idea that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s overhaul of the state’s educational system
might mean taxpayer support of Muslim schools …

'I liked the idea of giving parents the option of sending their children to a public school or a Christian school,' Hodges said.

Hodges mistakenly assumed that 'religious' meant 'Christian.'

HB976,
now signed into law as Act 2, proposed, among other things, a voucher
program allowing state educational funds to be used to send students to
schools run by religious groups …

'Unfortunately
it will not be limited to the Founders’ religion,' Hodges said. 'We
need to insure that it does not open the door to fund radical Islam
schools. There are a thousand Muslim schools that have sprung up
recently. I do not support using public funds for teaching Islam
anywhere here in Louisiana.'"

I love that line about mistakenly assuming that “religious” meant “Christian.” It happens to so many people…

Currently Reading

In Defense of a Liberal Education, by Fareed Zakaria. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, the damn Kindle edition doesn't include the publication date.

"The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has pointed to three ideas associated with the humanities that have positively shaped the world. First, he notes the philosopher Isaiah Berlin's warning that the belief in a single, all-encompassing truth inevitably produces blind arrogance, possibly leading to dangerous consequences. Second, he highlights John Rawls's contribution to political thought: that the most just society would be the one you would choose if you did not know how rich or poor or how talented or untalented you were when born into it. ... Lastly, Kristof highlights the work of Peter Singer, who has brought the treatment of animals and the pain that human beings often needlessly cause them to the fore of our moral consciousness."